Louis Antoine Constantin de Clermont-Tonnerre
Louis Antoine Constantin de Clermont-Tonnerre (8th December 1721), Évêque de Metz (1758-) was a Grandelumierian Bishop, Gardener, Count, author and politician of the Empire under the reign of Louis XIV. He also held the position as head of the House Maison de Clermont-Tonnerre following the death of all of his male predecessors and father, Jean-Baptiste de Clermont-Tonnerre. This unexpected demise of first his uncle, Louis Ferdinand de Clermont-Tonnerre and then later the next year his own father, Jean-Baptiste de Clermont-Tonnerre. These two deaths meant an easy succession to power over the house Clermont-Tonnerre and the dreams of the once partially monetarily destitute nephew could finally take place and become in motion. Biography Infancy, 1721-1723 ' ''The baby Évêque ''was delivered on the 8th December 1721, at the Chateau de Clermont located in the southern region of Grandelumiere. Surrounded by little of a family, only his mother, father and uncle (Fr. Cardinal d'Épinac.), his uncle who was cardinal at the time gave blessing to the newly born child when he layed eyes upon him. It was recorded that the Cardinal had spoke of the child as if he knew his future clerical path, often speaking that Constantin was ''"Especially blessed with the doctrine of the faith." This would ultimately prove to come true in the future. At the age of 5 Months the young baby child was baptized by his uncle, Cardinal d'E. in the Cathedral of Rouen, the Cardinals then main clerical title. This was seen as a joyous event however the child had been referred to as wrestling and unhappy at the baptism. Some certain pious individuals of the Maison and people attending believed this was a sign that Constantin was somewhat especially evil. He was recorded to have been able to walk at the age of 11 Months of age, which was seen as a sign of God's blessing on the child. He was also later reported to have began speaking at the age of 21 Months, which was not of course form-able sentences as of yet but it was said that his first spoken word was ''"Sanctimonious" ''this was of course highly debated as many members of the family recognized this as a sign of ignorance on the behalf of the Cardinal d'E, who reportedly heard this word said in private. However, his over zealous uncle continued to force upon the child, indoctrinating him into what was right and wrong, as well as the church teachings on almost everything in a persons life. '''Early Childhood, 1723-1733 From the ages of 3-10 Constantin was continuously pressured into the position of becoming a cleric, his uncle continue to assert an authority of the house. Often pushing his father and mother aside to spend massive amounts of time with the child, he was now able to able to read, write and speak fully. He had received intensive care from his uncle and had taken part as a choir boy in multiple masses at his uncles Cathedral in Rouen, often staying away a lot to partake and travelling with his uncle around the Empire when his duty called or more so when his uncle demanded of it. By the age of 8, the young boy had been taught on how to complete a full mass in all forms, including requiem. This proved a worthy skill in future as he did not need to go through as much of an intensive recruitment. All of the while as this education of piety occurred, Constantin's father was cast aside in all issues to do with the boy. This increased after a dispute between the two brothers about the boy, this ultimately lead to the Cardinal taking the young child from his home and away from his mother. The two of them left, the Cardinal d'E. was to attend court and so the boy was sent to a monastery at the age of 10. Which was considerably early, this monastery'', Pentemont Abbey'','' which was located in Paris had been a well known and highly prestigious place for education, there the young boy was left to continue his education. '''Middle-Late Childhood and Adolescence, 1733-1739' From the ages of 10-16 the now teenage boy excelled at the monastery, the work which had been done pre-monastery with his Uncle had proved massively crucial in his bid to become more powerful, as he lived his days in the monastery, this allowed him to socially address and make clear connections about members of the convent. Although with little power, this gave him a world wide understanding of how he could get closer to people, although this would have most likely have been conceived as psychopathic for anyone who may have known about these other motives. By the end of his years in the monastery, most of the monks were happily acquainted with the boy and even the known "vicious" Abbot was in friendship with the boy. At the age of 16, he left the monastery and said goodbye to the place at which he had learned most about life. He headed back to his family home, Chateau de Clermont, and stayed with his family for a short while until at the age of 17, he left the home and headed to begin his clerical ordination path. Ordination as a priest, 1745 and clerical positions In 1745, the now well trained young adult headed to the Cathedral of Rouen, which he had been training in under his uncle, the still Cardinal d'E. On the 28th February he was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic faith. His father and the majority of his family however, did not actually attend the ordination as it was seen as a long way to go. Along with him and 3 others, they received their vows and made their's. This was seen as the first large stepping stone in a massively long and tiresome career as a Cleric for Constantin. In 1758, Constantin was given the title of Évêque de Metz, he had hoped to hold an Arch-Évêque but yet still he was extremely joyful on the occasion as similarly to his ordination as a priest in 1745. A long time previous. This ordination took place in the Cathedral of Metz and multiple family members were able to attend this event, however by this point his father had passed away and also his uncle the Cardinal. This ultimately left him as successor to the Clermont-Tonnerre house, as all other relatives lay aside their claims to continue the line of a cleric as the Head of Maison de Clermont-Tonnerre. This opened up a massive amount of possibilities for the new count and Bishop, giving him new ways to which he could implement his idea's. Starting on a rise to power in the court, so, in the later summer of that year he left to go to the court of Louis XIV, in the intent to become a new found member of power and in the future possibly claim himself a cardinalate as a "Successor." ''to the Cardinal M. '''Literature of the Évêque, 1749-1752' Upon reading the works of the late Cardinal M. a large "hero" ''figure for the then Évêque, he decided to write himself a political themed book speaking about the ''"Incorrectness of democracy in a 18th century government." ''this piece of literature was massively planned in the previous years of 1746-48 to which the then Évêque took up a series of travels, largely visiting and spending multiple months researching on the court of the Netherlands, that of Pieter Steyn, current ''Grand pensionary ''of the Dutch Republic as well as in later years, spending multiple months at the library of the Cathedral of Metz looking into the court of Francesco Loredan, ''Doge of the Venetian Republic. As residing in the Diocese of Metz he set about writing the book which he named "La Faute de la Démocratie" ''(The Fault of Democracy) a book which largely criticized the court of these two rulers in particular, expressing the disregard to which ''"A man who has been given such power over night can cause grand disarray for a grand nation." ''The works of Constantin soon took hold in the lower clerical profession, as most peasantry could only read basic texts, however, this work was extremely detailed and had the same structural form as some of the Cardinal M.'s text's, giving it a elevated popularity. The book similarly spoke of how the Dutch republic in particular had infested the mind of European citizens, enforcing both the ''"devils tools" of "Democracy and Protestantism." ''his work in the Cathedral meant that he now had a large majority of free time from the running of the diocese, this allowed him to focus on completely achieving his book to an adequate form. After 3 draft copies and multiple changes, the finished book was sent to be printed and published in Paris in 1755, 3 years after it's expected date of release. Time in the Court, Louis XIV '''Introduction to court, 1763' Upon his arrival in court, the bishop set about becoming more acquainted to the people who lived there. His uncle had spoken to him as a younger child about how he should deal with court and the issues it might produce, so, heeding to this advice he set off to make friends with the Monsieur le Prince and Princesse as well as Madame Quatrième, the 3 of them later hosting an evening meal in Argenteuil. This proved crucial in his plans to become a higher member of court, these contacts later proving very useful as a heightened growth for power on Constantin's behalf followed his arrival in court. Upon arriving, he learned that only 2 members of Maison de Clermont-Tonnerre resided in court upon arrival. His relative, Isabeau Éléonore Irène Diane de Clermont-Tonnerre, Mademoiselle de Clermont, '''and also his relative, Irene Pauline d'Albret de Luynes, '''Duchesse de Luynes, at this time Constantin thought it best to seek out the two women and forge a friendship. As this was most likely the first time in Constantin's life that he had met these members of his house. War of the British Succession, June 1763-Pr Constantin joining the court after the war had already begun proved a problem, as he was quite unaware of what the war had entailed, often only reading what had gone on in the -, this created a largely bias view on Constantin's part. This lead to him openly speaking out against the British, largely following in his late Uncle, Cardinal d'E.'s footsteps as a pious individual, this lead to many a debate on religion and the incorrectness of the Protestant faith. Constantin was often regarded also as a largely patriotic figure, in both the realm of religion and the Empire of Grandelumiere. This proved a pivotal point in disregarding the protestant claims to the British throne in his own personal eyes. It was regarded that he had spoken multiple times about how he would do anything to go and fight, however this was not possible as the Eveque was chained to his clerical position. This would cause him discomfort for the majority of his life, even in disregard to his uncles previous teaching's on war which was extremely rare for a man who had been controlled by clerical figures for most of his younger life. Chateau de Tonnerre, 1761 In the year of 1761, Constantin chose to redo and completely refurbish the whole of Chateau de Tonnerre, located in the north west region of Dijon. This proved largely extensive and took up a huge amount of his time, this had proved a a very big factor to limit his arrival in court as most days he would find himself having to oversee the reconstruction of this former tiny chateau, which had been one of the winter residence's of his uncle. His attitude towards completely redoing up the chateau stemmed from a thought to which he had wished to direct attention from the large Chateau of d'Epinac, his main residence to another which he had wished to change. He had also taken into account the inability to completely adapt Epinac to his own personal desire which led him to completely starting over on a new Chateau which he could use to Achieve his dream home. Death of Madame la Grande Dauphine and Duchesse de Mortemart, 1763 Only upon arrival, after a few days the Eveque received news of the death of the Duchesse de Mortemart a meer few weeks previous to getting to Argenteuil. This had scared him slightly, he now chose to carry a pouch of smelling spice in-case a miasma was to take up the air. If this had not done him enough trouble, later in the week it was revealed publicly that Madame la Dauphine, the expected Empress of Grandelumiere had passed away, only to continue to down trod the court's feelings. At this point Constantin often prayed privately for all members of the court effected and the two ladies themselves, regarding them as highly religious individuals although they had never met. Appointment to Confesseur au Dauphin, 1763 In the early July of 1763, the then Eveque was given the position as the Confesseur au Dauphin (Confessor to the Grand Dauphin). This deal was made following a card match which had been participated by the majority of the court to which Constantin was asked in private to take up this position. The appointment to this position allowed Constantin to continue to climb the power ladder, now becoming quite close with the future ruler of Grandelumiere. Using advantage of this new found grip on the court, he allowed this position to help him gain an advantage over other clerics for in the future. Even going as far as to allow Monseigneur to use Constantins personal name. Diocese of Mets, 1765 In 1765, the Crown Cardinal, Prince-Bishop of Strasbourg was requested by the then Eveque to have the Bishopric of Metz, now Mets to be upgraded to that of an Archbishopric. Due to Constantins high favor in court at this time with the clerical members and also his favor in the eyes of the now deceased Dauphin, this was possible and the title was upgraded. Now offering Constantin higher honor as a Archbishop rather than that previously as a regular bishop. A signed document was made by the Prince-Bishop which documented this increase of title and was signed by his hand. This now official document was then filed in the library of Mets. Along with this the Cathedral of Mets was largely changed inside to accommodate for the change of a diocese title, such as a new altar and an extension which was made to the back of the Cathedral. Personality and Public Appearance Personality, 1721-Pr. Constantin was largely seen as a partially pious character, however this was known that he was pious when the time came, however on other occasions he could be largely non-pious and express the traits and lifestyle of any normal man. It was even theorized that he often removed his clerical robes in private, opting to wear normal courtly clothing which would have been seen as largely scandalous. In the public light, he was also seen as a large spectrum of different things. Ranging from being seen as a friend to many in court and a man prying for power to others. Public Appearance, 1721-Pr. Constantin was regarded to have basic and normal features, he was not seen as particularly handsome but not ugly at all. He was however largely pompous in his attitude which was largely known across court. However some enjoyed this as a characteristic and many found it quite amusing. He had hazel eyes and naturally brunette hair which lay in a naturally messy but straight fashion. Illegitimate Issues, 1760-Pr. Although clerics were not able to bare children, a number of illegitimate and private individuals were born from the Bishop in private. * Antoine Edouard (1760-Unknown) Category:Grandelumierian Clergy Category:Grandelumierian Comtes Category:Grandelumierian Nobility Category:18th Century Births Category:House Clermont-Tonnerre Category:Imperial Court